Simple Gifts [Closed] - Part 2

[laurenande]

WHO: Galadriel, Thranduil, Solas, Myrobalan, Merrill, Kitty, Lakshmi, Teren, Marcoulf, Jang, Obi-Wan, and Anders
WHAT: A trip to a perfectly normal Chantry in the middle of nowhere.
WHEN: Current.
WHERE: The Island of Alamar, Ferelden.
NOTES: Current warnings, to be updated: Mild Gore

The Abbey on the White Cliff

Around noon on the fourth day, Brigette and the other sisters gather up the people of the Abbey. Everyone who can walk, who can stand, is urged to join them in the auditorium--the doors at the end of the main hall are thrown open and the people welcomed in. Today Reverend Mother Alvar will be enacting her final miracle and, in the grand tradition of this Abbey, the people are invited to behold and take joy in the sight of it. They are encouraged to be there for the end of the previous Reverend Mother's life, just as they are encouraged to welcome the new Reverend Mother, Luca, as she assumes her new position.

The auditorium is a wide, stepped chamber that drops downward into an open forum and stage. The roof is high and domed and was once constructed of the same grey stone as everything else on the island. It was caved in at some point, destroyed by a falling tree, but it has been patched over with wood and canvas. The extensive scaffolding speaks volumes of how much effort has gone into restoring this room, but all of it stands still and empty in preparation for the ceremony.

Above the center of the stage, in the very middle of the room, visible from all angles, there is a great green tear in the veil--a massive rift cleaves the room in two. It churns sluggishly, ebbing and twisting, muted under the weight of whatever pall hangs across this Abbey. Around the rift there is a golden arch--the wood is carved into flames and swords and papered over in hammered gold leaf. Behind the rift there is a triptych depicting scenes from the Chant and each is lovingly painted and framed in gold.

The room is filled with chaos, but not of the sort one would expect in the shadow of a rift. The people who meander in, the pilgrims who take up the seats near to the stage at the base of the steps, all of them are smiling, all of them are happy, some are weeping tears of joy or remorse, but all of them are entirely unsurprised by the rift's presence. They take no issue lingering near it. Praise is heaped upon the carpenters for their diligence in finishing the arch, songs are sung softly as everyone gathers, and eventually the room is prompted to recite from the Chant as Alvar comes to the center of the stage. She is frail and those who spoke with her earlier will see how she has aged--twenty years in a day, it seems--and she leans heavily on Luca until she moves apart to stand on her own.

Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls.
From these emerald waters doth life begin anew.
Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you.
In my arms lies Eternity.

When she speaks the Chant, for a moment, her voice sounds youthful again--no older than Luca's--but it is fleeting and before the end she is breathless and thin once more.

OOC:

Hey everyone, this is part 2! I will be posting an initial thread for this scene that will be a free for all, but feel free to start a thread beneath the Ceremony Header if you want. Below I will be reposting the updated areas and people links, same as the previous post.

New Top-levels are welcomed, as always, but if you have questions please hit me up.

This section will contain the rest of this plot, unless we skyrocket to too many tags for me to keep them straight.

Comments

[doneisdone]

That look receives a look of its own, one familiar to mice when they notice the hawk that's about to dive for them.
"OH YES GENERALLY," Teren snaps, in a voice that is fairly quiet yet still manages to sound like a shout, "TELL ME WHAT ELSE GENERALLY HAPPENS"

[laurenande]

Morely just stares back at her and shrugs. His whole demeanor manages, at once, to provide no information and imply that he has no real information to provide anyway, so beating it out of him is a waste of time and energy.

"Well not this," he adds and motions around them. "This is a damn strange sight."

[doneisdone]

Stepping back to massage her temple, Teren squeezes her eyes closed and collects herself. Yelling at Morely won't help. That's what Alistair is for, but Alistair isn't here.
On some level she wishes he were, but he would almost certainly have said something obnoxious by now, and...

...Maker, maybe she could use that.

"So the-- I thought the last Revered Mother had been around a while," she says, the wind leaving her sails. "You say they die and get replaced like casks of wine?"

[laurenande]

Morely's head bobs a bit, as if he wants to disagree with that simile, but ultimately he nods.

"Last one was around about a week, that's quite a spell for a Reverend Mother. Usually only stick around a few days each. It's quite a sight."

[doneisdone]

"Maferath's balls." The way they'd all talked about her, she'd seemed like an ancient fixture.

"So the whole... staff, everything, is killed and replaced, killed and replaced. By so many pilgrims." She narrows her eyes at Morely, trying to understand. "Why would you stay?"

[laurenande]

"Not the whole staff, just the Reverend Mothers, over an over," he clears up and then looks a bit sad having phrased it that way. Her followup is a bit unexpected and he stares a bit distantly at the pilgrims down the hall.

"Mostly we see someone get healed, or we get healed ourselves, an...how can you just leave after that? Seein' how utterly shit this place is and all, it's hard to just say 'hey thanks for the new leg, I'll write ya', yeah?"

He shrugs again.

"I stay because my mum stayed," he adds. "It's removed from all that Mage Templar stuff, all the Civil Wars, all the Tevinter nonsense, we even got a pass on the rifts, didn't we? They're annoying, but them wraiths sure keep the demons out.

"It's miserable and it's shit, but it's safe...leastwise it was."

[doneisdone]

Oh, is that all.

"So you and your lot, you're content to sit about and get fat off these women killing themselves, because it means you don't have to deal with the world?" She folds her arms, her expression weary and bitter. "Thanks for the new leg, guess I'll stay here and benefit from your bloody sacrifice while making a pathetic effort to light the torches we all know damn well aren't getting lit?"

She gives the lantern a little kick, just to remind him of its presence.

"Safety." A derisive snort. "I suppose even a flea is safe while it's on a dog."

[laurenande]

"I don't see you lining up to solve the problem," Morely fires back, not nearly as heated or aggressive as he might be. She isn't entirely wrong on her point and, frankly, Morely is only about half as combative as any normal person. His ennui is too great to be truly pissed off. "Your lot got Estmond killed because you couldn't back out of a room when we were tryin' to help you.

"And we do plenty round here--got them that build new shutters and windows, them what bake food or clear the gardens, even them who keep the Chantry services running and whole. We try to honor them if nothin' else."

He takes a huffy breath and lets it out as a grumbling sort of hum.

"I ain't never took a miracle, neither did my mum, but we're here helpin' regardless."

[doneisdone]

"One person can't be a line, scheissekopf," Teren spits, bristling at the fact he'd dare counter her accusation. "We'll solve it, all right, because, as you have so astutely pointed out, my companions can't pull their noble heads out of their arses long enough to see a lost cause."
Is there some admiration there? Don't point it out.
"You deserve this," she says as she backs away, kicking the lantern again for good measure, so now he'll have to actually walk a few feet to go get it, "all of it. It's on your head, and the heads of everyone else in this miserable cursed place. Enjoy your safety, you mewling coward."

At least, when Teren turns to stalk away, she doesn't flip him off. That would be juvenile.